Hope

 

A short swan saga

It is a crisp January afternoon and I am admiring the view across the Dunedas aquaduct looking at the woodlands beyond as the sun starts to set.

 

Two young swans - still with some of their juvenile grey feathers - rush by swimmng fast.

Hard on the youngster's feathery heels are two adults. Their wings arched up in full threat posture.

Arched wings.

Once the juveniles are successfully chased around the curve and beyond what we can now assume is a boundary of the adults territory, they relax and turn around. 

They quietly swim back across the narrow aquaduct and into the even narrower channel that leads to what is left of the old Somerset Coal Canal.

Hopefully, come the Spring this bonded-pair will make a nest and produce some cygnets of their own, which later in the year they will also chase away.

Wells at Christmas

 

A stroll around the smallest city in England, Wells, at Christmas time -

The moat around the Bishop's Palace at dusk.

The moat's famous swans

The other bird common in the boat - Black-headed gull (winter plumage)

And in a quiet corner of the moat -

 - a little egrit

Nearby is the oldest street in Europe - an amazing medieval relic from more than 650 years ago that is still serving its original purpose -

The Vicar's close - providing homes for the cathedral choir.

And speaking of the cathedral - here is the central nave and a few internal details -

Well's cathedral nativity

Then comes the night -

And in the grounds of the Bishop's Palace after dark a sighting of a patronus -

Inside the Bishop's Palace after dark -

The upper banquetting hall ready for feast

A Boxing Day Walk - Bonchurch to Ventnor

It was a dull, cloudy December 26 but the sea was calm and so we walked along the seawall from Bonchurch to Ventnor on the Isle of Wight. Here are a few photos.

The most spectacular of the local birds is, Gulosus aristotelis, the European shag, a species of cormorant. 

Looking north from Bonchurch - several large vessels on the horizon.

A distant contrainer vessel

A rock pippit - part of a small flock - almost perfectly camouflaged.

Coastal defences to the east of Ventnor... the route to Bonchurch

Ventnor fishing fleet

Ventnor sea front

Moonscapes - November super-moon

The November super-moon has been both amazing and illusive (occasionally hidden by clouds). 

For several nights it rose up big and bright over the woodlands of the Limpley Valley.

Here are some images from successive nights. 

Two days later the moon is a little bigger and more yellow.

Moon rise over the Dunedas Aquaduct.

And finally .... one last glimpse...

Badger - lifting the lid on the snacks

Badger and the pumpkins

Badger is not too worried by the arrival of strange shapes and faces in the garden and especially when she finds they contain some tasty snacks.

 And, come the morning, the clean-up crew arrives to enjoy any left-overs.

Autumn Scenes from the Midlands

A lyme kilm reflected in the old canal in Coalport

The old iron bridge at Ironbridge

The Royal Oak - an oak tree on the site where Charles II once hid from parliamentary forces -
Boscobel House.

Sunset at Daniel's Water Mill, Bridgnorth

A recently cleared field just outside the grounds of Dudmaston.

Steam train on the rail viaduct at Daniel's Mill

View from the Upper Town Bridgnorth - including the cliff railway car.

Lakeside walk Dudmaston

Geese at Dudmaston

Dudmaston House

Ludlow Castle

Stokesay Castle

Stokesay Castle Gatehouse

Adam - a carved detail on the Gatehouse.

Darwin celebrated at his birthplace - Shrewsbury

Tewksbury Abbey

'The Sentry' - greylag gueese resting, one stands guard -Dudmaston

Spangle galls on the underside of an oak leaf

Cygnet at Dudmaston

Autumn Colours